Chapter 40: Hatred for Uchiha Chizumi?

Izumi finally reached Uchiha Chizumi. Exhausted, the girl bent over, panting hard, her cheeks slightly flushed, yet she still hurriedly handed over the file with both hands.

"Se‑senpai… this is the full list of everyone who's gone missing from Konoha in the past five years. None of them have been found yet. There are 176 missing persons in total."

Even Izumi herself was a little stunned by that number.

And these were only the officially recorded cases.

There were surely more—especially among missing ninja who likely carried their own secrets.

People with secrets, of course, would never appear on Konoha's public missing‑person roster.

Uchiha Chizumi did not take the list, because just then another voice drew near:

"Chizumi‑sama, we found new bones again, meow! And there are quite a lot this time!"

Jujiro hurried over, trailed by his clan of ninja cats.

Many of the cats were carrying assorted bone fragments in their mouths.

"All dug up from the sewers, meow!" Jujiro landed lightly on Izumi's head with practiced ease. "We just can't be sure they all belong to the same person."

One after another, the ninja cats set the bones down.

Uchiha Chizumi crouched and picked up one of the fragments.

"Rookie, rule out male missing persons for now," he said.

Izumi blinked. "Senpai, you already know the victim's gender?"

Chizumi straightened and explained, "This is the inferior pubic ramus. In males the angle is generally under 90°, forming a narrow V; in females it's over 90°, a broad U or wide V."

He pointed at another fragment on the ground. "That is part of the supra‑orbital ridge. In males it's thick, prominent and slopes backward; in females it's flatter, the forehead vertical or only slightly sloped."

Izumi was dumbfounded.

How many bodies had this senpai examined to master the skill of identifying gender at a glance from bones alone?

Suddenly she noticed Chizumi's brow crease—as if he had made a new discovery.

He bent to pick up two jawbone pieces with teeth still embedded. After studying them for a moment he said, "Rookie, narrow the age to between five and thirty. Check the photos and pick out any missing females with slightly protruding front teeth."

"Yes, sir!" Izumi answered quickly, riffling through the file. Braving her curiosity, she began, "Senpai, why that age—"

But Chizumi saw through her question and, in his usual flat tone, cut her off: "Because there are two different skeletons. Also note their surnames—I suspect the bones are from a mother and daughter."

"Judging by the cut surfaces, the same tool was used to dismember both, so it's likely one perpetrator—perhaps they were even killed on the same day."

"And from the size of the fragments, each body was hacked into at least a hundred pieces. The fact we found any at all is pure luck."

Izumi's hands nearly shook.

T‑two bodies?

M‑mother and daughter?

"One large, one small. The older victim should be between twenty and thirty; the younger between five and eight," Chizumi said calmly.

Chilled, Izumi leafed through the pages. Using his filters she quickly located two missing people with the same surname.

"Senpai, I found them!"

Steadying her nerves, she reported: "Yamada Ryōsako, twenty‑seven, missing four years ago; husband deceased, one daughter. Yamada Nobumi, four, missing four years ago; father deceased, mother is Yamada Ryōsako."

"What do you think we do next?" Chizumi asked.

Izumi froze—she hadn't expected the question to be thrown back at her.

Right! Maybe this was a test!

"At once: locate their last residence, investigate their relations with neighbors and relatives, look into their finances, and focus on who inherited the Yamada family's assets after their deaths," she recited—content straight from the Uchiha Police Force intern handbook.

"Let's go," Chizumi told her, then said to Jujiro, "Bring the remains back to headquarters."

"Yes, Chizumi‑senpai!"

"Yes, Chizumi‑sama!"

…

"Hey, Yamada! Tomorrow is the funeral of the Hokage‑sama's eldest son—why are you spacing out? The Hokage ordered us to make the ceremony grand and dignified so the dead can pass peacefully to the Pure Land.

"If you're not up to it, take leave. If something goes wrong and the funeral's ruined, how could commoners like us bear the Hokage's wrath? Our funeral‑home's reputation would be finished!"

The man called "Yamada" jolted.

Shaking his head, he forced a smile. "I just didn't sleep well last night. I'm fine."

Even he didn't know why he felt so uneasy.

Could it be…

No…

Impossible.

"I cleaned up thoroughly," he muttered under his breath. "It's been years—how could anyone ever find out?"

…

"Hokage‑sama, tomorrow is Shinnosuke's funeral. You are the Hokage of Konoha—you must pull yourself together."

A masked female Anbu spoke softly from behind Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Hiruzen heaved a deep sigh.

Turning to her, his expression complicated, he said, "You must be suffering as I am. After all… you and Shinnosuke were married many years and loved each other deeply…"

"Hokage‑sama, grief is useless. What's done can't be undone. All I can do is see that Shinnosuke rests in peace, care for Konohamaru in the future, and remember this hatred—nothing more."

Hiruzen heard the hoarseness in her voice; the daughter‑in‑law who had lost her husband had doubtless wept countless times already.

After a long silence he said, "Nadeshiko, I know you hate Uchiha Chizumi, but—"

"I understand," Sarutobi Nadeshiko replied. "I'll put the village first and won't let hatred cloud my judgment. Hokage‑sama, I'd like half a day off to be with Konohamaru."

Hiruzen sighed inwardly.

"Go."